Music Reviews 4U - Squeeze - 45's and under album
An album I still listen to now on my IPod 40 + years later!
45's and Under captures Squeeze's their 'golden era' hits
Still have mine, well thumbed - bought from ABC Music from about 1983
The cover image was also used on the 12" Vinyl and Cassette Tape albums covers
South London Pub Rock band Squeeze formed around the Deptford area south of the river Thames in the 1970's as a result of a music shop advertisement placed by Chris Difford in 1974, that Glen Tilbrook saw.
Squeeze came to public attention around 1979 with a swathe of commercially attractive & catchy singles in the musical era now known as Post Punk / New Wave. Alongside other artists like Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello in a rapidly evolving music scene which was exciting to behold.
Rubbing shoulders with Dire Straits another locally Deptford based pub rock band that would later become world famous, Squeeze were frequent guests on the BBC TV Top of the Pops show and appearing on the BBC2 music magazine show the Old Grey Whistle, their new singles were always eagerly awaited.
The Jools Holland piano solo on this song is just superb
and Glen Tilbrook gives us another guitar masterpiece solo too
By 1980 the band lineup comprised Glen Tilbrook - Guitar and Vocals, Chris Diffird - Guitar and Vocals, Harri Kakoulli - Bass Guitar, Jools Holland - Keyboards and Gilson Lavis - Drums.
The Squeeze lineup has been quite fluid since its inception, with John Bentley later on Bass in the early 1980s and Paul Carrack and Chris Holland on Keyboards variously became band members.
Jools Holland came back in and went out of Squeeze to pursue other other projects such as co-hosting the Tube on Channel 4 with Paula Yates and Muriel Grey and his BBC2 'Later' programs and to tour and record with his Jools Holland Big Band project. And not to forget his large model railway project!
The Squeeze compilation album '45's and Under' was issued in October 1982 and showcased the major hits of the band in what was their most commercially chart active era.
The album title '45's and Under' reflects the 'singles bars' culture of the era, which like the wine bars were more upmarket than most Pubs (known as 'Boozers' in London). The bars would have theme nights and sometimes '45's and under' promotions to attract a target clientele.
This was in the pre AIDS era and causal sex was rampant in Britain, a bit like the people involved! AIDS changed all that and affected both men and women was identified around 1986 in the public domain through stark television adverts with banner headlines like 'don't die of ignorance' were broadcast as AIDS was not curable then.
By this time in society, marriage although popular was now seen as optional, people living together was no longer the stigma it had once been. The themes in the song lyrics from this compilation reflect the life as lived when the songs were written, of casual sex, broken love affairs and relationships, domestic situations et al.
Side 1 Tracks
Take me I'm yours - Starting with a chugging synth intro, the song is a musical odyssey in the lyrical journey style. It was really different from anything else on the charts then, keeping the song to an almost continuous synth line throughout the verses. You just have to hear it to appreciate it. Synths with arpeggiation and programming were just breaking out into Pop music at the time.
Goodbye Girl - A song of regret with the great line 'the sunlight on the Lino', brings to the fore Chris Difford's lyrical genius of portraying ordinary people's life in song form and the minutiae of suburban working class life. The minutiae people often disregard is brought into play with his vignette of a relationship gone sour and ended.
Cool for Cats - A stormer right from the off, a track melding Davy Crockett's wild west with the Sweeney's operational policing of armed robbery in London and more! Brilliant lyrics, which I'll probably dive into in another review, one of the best tracks on the album. The line 'The Sweeney's doing 90 'cos they've got the word to go' from the song is just so good.
Jools uses the leitmotif of the phrase 'cool for cats' in musical note form which is worth listening out for. 'Cool for Cats' was a saying of the 50's and also used as the name of a music show on Independent Television from 1956-61 aimed at a teenage audience and hosted by the very un-teenage almost 50 year old sports commentator Kent Walton! (as was the fashion then in television!)
Una Stubbs was one of the 'Cool for Cats' show's dancers, who would in 1962 recommend Cliff Richard for the film Summer Holiday, more of which later is referenced in the 'Pulling Mussels from the Shell' track in respect of Glen Tilbrook.
Up the junction - A film from around 1966 featuring a young Dennis Waterman of Sweeney fame, now that's a coincidence as he appeared in the ITV series The Sweeney from 1974 -1978 - see the 'Cool for Cats' track above!.
'Junction' is another 'Kitchen Sink lyrical drama', which no doubt led to Difford and Tilbrook being labelled at the time as 'the Lennon and McCartney of Deptford' - the lyrics start well then the fortunes of the mainstay character goes downhill, backed up with great Hammond organ by Jools and Gilson's drum patterns. The Deptford area of this era was undergoing redevelopment work with much of the old dockland area being redeveloped and it was quite a poor area of London.
Slap and Tickle - In a similar vein to the 1st track in style and quite musically similar in pattern, it is a tale of at first unrequited love and how it was then, you pass a driving test, get a car and take your girlfriend out for a drive and hopefully use the car as a venue for uninterrupted sex. The song changes from the rythmic staccatto beat of the verse to a rock style middle 8.
Another nail in my Heart - Another meaty rythm here with bass and drums pounding out some sort of musical urgency of the track as the music bursts out from behind the intro into another relationship gone sour. "And in the bar the Piano man's found another nail for my heart" the lyric goes - and this can be true enough, then there were Pianos frequently found in Pubs, often in London.
The video of the track was great with Jools pushing a piano through the local streets just getting to the studio in time to play the last crashing chord. A quality track that stands out.
Pulling Mussels from the Shell - A great song and musically one of the best on the album. It is a rose tinted view of long gone summer holidays and as usual brilliantly observed by the writers. An outstanding pair of solos from Glen and Jools seal the deal.
Glen Tilbrook was taken as a 5 year old to see the film Summer Holiday film in 1963 from where he was influenced by seeing Cliff Richard's backing group the Shadows playing on the film, to learn the guitar. Funny old world ain't it?
Side 2 Tracks
Labelled with Love - one of their last tracks commercially in the 80's for a while is an almost country and western feel tale, could easily be at home in Nashville as in Deptford. Regales the story of a wartime romance with a US Serviceman and a GI Bride going to America for a new life, that was not uncommon in WW2. A rather sad Coda to their run of hits but a good song.
Is that Love - A real rocker and one of the best tracks on the album, mines the Kitchen Sink / love affair / rocky relationship vein but so what? Isn't most music really 'folk music' about 'folk' and their lives, about real people?
A personal favourite track of mine. "She's left my ring by the soap, now is that love?" is such a great line. I believe that the lyrics resonated with people's lives which is why the group had success, along with great musicianship. Life imitates art, art imitates life.
Tempted - Paul Carrack makes an appearance on this track on Keys and Vocals and on the video, a song that starts in the unusual key of B Major and resolves to G Major. A great song lyrically and musically, about ends and beginnings thanks to the old Adam and Eve conundrum.
Black Coffee in Bed - Almost a Blues song in structure and feel, it features a great lyrical Glen Tilbrook guitar solo in the musicality of the whole venture. Again underpinned by the old Hammond organ, another pub rock band gem!
Annie get your Gun - The finale track of the album and one of the best saved for last - full of energy and with great lyrics - even though Chris Difford apparently didn't rate it at the time the song is about a good time gal living it large - as a live track it comes across really well and on the record it sounds great too. There was a London stage musical of the same name so that is likely a contributing factor in the mix. It features on my Ipod playlists for sure.
The instruments
The musical technology of that 70's / 80's era was undergoing something of a new wave in itself, with Synthesizer and Keyboards technology making great advances mainly from Japanese companies like Korg, Roland and Yamaha as examples.
Arpeggiation facilities and programming on Synths was becoming widely used and also musical sequencing on computers was coming in with home computers and desk top computing now a reality. In a few years time the home recording studio on a desk top computer would be commonplace with studio programs like Cubase.
Keyboards and Synths were expanding music beyond mere notes with different voices, they were bringing new sonic possibilities with synthetic strings that almost negated the need for string orchestras.
Guitars were undergoing a new era with new designs breaking away from the often either / or Fender or Gibson offerings that largely dominated the market. Synth guitars were coming in and then went nowhere strangely, effects pedal modules and amplifier modelling would soon become part of the sound.
Bass guitars developed away from the often stock Rickenbacker, Fender or Gibson choices and companies like WAL and Hamer made Bass Guitars now seen frequently on pop videos of the time. Active sound on both guitars and bass guitars was now sometimes used to create new sounds.
Musical memories and the era
Music often resonates for people in different ways. For instance if we get into 'Another nail in my Heart' territory where a song can have great impact personally good or bad, I remember at the time that 'Careless Whisper' by George Michael hit the charts, a great song, someone I was into was stolen by someone else at work and I couldn't listen to that track for some years after because of that connection.
So I really get what 'Another nail' is about and I suppose we have all been there. Times change and that relationship I mentioned went sour so I can listen to that again and smile.
When Squeeze hit the charts in 1979 I was at Secondary school and playing the guitar as a hobby. Instantly on hearing Cool for Cats and the singles that followed I loved this band and their music.
Memories of their tracks which we then had on a cassette which we still have now, include going across South London and down the A2 to Kent to see a car for sale and Annie Get Your Gun being on the tape deck of the E Type Jaguar I was in going down places like the Old Kent Road or Shooters Hill.
Listening to these old songs and realising the years they were released brings back memories of the time, where I lived, the people then, what we we doing. It is perhaps a nostalgia trip.
Today I still play along to those tracks on guitar and I am still enjoying the songs through that interest as well as listening to them on my Ipod at work.
As a writer in my spare time I may often draw on songs of the era in the works to take me back to an era seen through my own eyes, which I am doing on a project I have set in the early 1990's but with roots in the 1980s'.
Coda
In closing, 45's and Under is a great compilation of Squeeze at their best commercially. Music moves on and pop music does not stand still with fashions changing quickly and often drastically.
People I know who weren't even born when this album was released like the songs, proving that good music will always be popular.
Glen and Chris were very good at their craft of songwriting and their musical legacy is of great quality as is the standard of musicianship on these recordings.
The pub rock scene is now greatly diminished sadly, I was lucky to have played in Richmond in a pub in 1985 with a band of people I was formerly at school with only a couple of years before, I have now been playing live for 45 years at the time of writing.
We are also lucky that Squeeze came along when the pop video was an emerging adjunct to the music. When you find these old videos on youtube, it is great to see how creative they were and how life was so different then.
They also bing back memories of the era, leaving us visual time capsules.
I'd recommend this album without a doubt.